Herm Edwards sees crazy nature of Pac-12 after suffering 1st loss of 2019
Sep 23, 2019, 10:53 AM
Arizona State coach Herm Edwards watches during the second half of the team's NCAA college football game against Oregon State on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
Who would’ve guessed that after four weeks of play, the only Pac-12 team remaining undefeated is Cal, which finished 7-6 last year and was picked this summer to finish fifth out of six Pac-12 North teams?
Such is the nature of the conference so far, which has already seen its share of spectacles. USC, which lost to BYU in Week 3 but then upset No. 19 Utah this weekend, would be one example. UCLA scoring 67 points and rallying back from a 32-point deficit in the third quarter to beat Washington State on the road on Saturday would be another.
And Arizona State, which started off 3-0 and beat ranked Michigan State on the road last weekend, fell at home to unranked Colorado on Saturday by a score of 34-31.
Head coach Herm Edwards joined Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station on Monday and acknowledged the way things have gone in the conference out west.
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“That’s the Pac-12. It’s kind of a wild conference,” he said. “You see all through this conference, there’s only one undefeated team and it happens to be Cal right now. … And when you think about what happened up at Washington State, UCLA scoring 67 points, it’s just amazing, the way this conference works.
“The more I look at it, I just think it’s a conference of a lot of competition. It will work its way out probably in about three or four weeks. There will be some teams that pull away. But right now, every week, anyone can beat anybody.”
If it’s any consolation, Arizona State finds itself in good company after starting its conference slate 0-1. Utah, which was picked in the preseason as the media poll favorite to win the division, is also 0-1.
But unfortunately for the Sun Devils, after allowing just 21 points combined in the first three games of the season, they allowed 31 in Week 4 alone.
“I felt going into this game, it would be in the high 20s,” Edwards said. “Because this is a potent offense. A lot of guys returning, an outstanding quarterback [Steven Montez]. And the key thing about the quarterback, he was very comfortable all day. I mean we didn’t bother him at all. And then when he left the pocket, he extended some plays and made some throws.”
Montez went 23-of-30 passing for 337 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He wasn’t sacked at all.
One could suggest that the ASU program was riding too high after the big road win over Michigan State, but Edwards didn’t seem to think it was a matter of the Sun Devils being unprepared.
“I think they were ready to play,” he said. “It was the fact that [Colorado] got off to a quick start, and then all of a sudden they kind of knocked us on our heels a little bit. It was like, ‘Woah.’ And we had no answer for them early. And then finally, the second half, we kind of adjusted.
“But some of it was us. It was just us. And we anticipated to play a little bit better on defense. But it became an offensive game, and sometimes that happens.”
